Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/24/2006 | On the House | Prices, not the press, help move home sales

Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/24/2006 | On the House | Prices, not the press, help move home sales

A few posts back, I wrote about how I felt that the press influences home buyers. In fact, the CEO of the brokerage I work for has written letters to the Inquirer asserting this. Of course, pricing is paramount, but there is not question that in order to sell papers, emotional tag lines and "scary" sentiments can get to the psyche of readers/potential buyers!! In this article, the newspaper appears to be going on the defensive!! I have personally experienced this. Buyers come in and expect to be able to "steal" properties and make ridiculously low offers. They have been unsuccessful.
To give credit, however, the article goes on to say that the Philadelphia area housing has not been impacted as much as the rest of the nation. Our local economy is strong and growing. Stay tuned!!

Fox Chase Cancer Center

This post is a follow up to my previous post -

As previously explained, residents of most communities seem overly fearful and resistant to anything being built nearby. Sometimes, of course, their reasoning is valid, which I will explore in future posts. Sometimes, in my opinion, it is not.

Case in point - Consider the recent situation (2005) in Northeast Phildelphia concerning Fox Chase Cancer Center. By any standards, this is a highly rated medical institution geared to fighting cancer at both the clinical and research levels. They have a world class reputation and employ many people in the Phildelphia area.

However, the center is just squeezed too tightly in their current facility and the board of directors has wanted to expand onto SOME of the parkland in the adjacent Burholme Park. This met with fierce opposition from the community. The way the facility explained it, most of the park is going to be salvaged and there are other nearby park areas for residents to use. The park never appeared to be overly utilized in the first place.

The boon to the local economy and to the neighorhood, city and region is almost inestimable, to say nothing of the valuable medical resource. It boggles my mind that anyone could have had such fierce resistance. Apparently, however, the measure is passed and the Fox Chase Cancer center will be permitted to go ahead with its plans. Jobs will be maintained and new positions added. This will allow continued growth in that neighborhood - continuing to draw high caliber professionals to our area. This is always GOOD for real estate!! Stay tuned!

Read more about it from the Center's Newsletter:

Here is a link to a blog from people in the region who opposed it:

Marlene Goldberg Realtor, GRI, Jenkintown, PA

RISMedia » Are Consumers Sick of Development? Attitudes against Land-Use Development Grow Deeper, Survey Says

RISMedia » Are Consumers Sick of Development? Attitudes against Land-Use Development Grow Deeper, Survey Says

My take on this is as follows: Generally, any potential development from something like a cell tower, to a school, or hospital expansion, etc. is frequently met with community resistance. Two "policies" seem to govern this. They are "NIMBY" and "BANANA" - acronyms which stand for... "Nothing in My Back Yard" and "Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything"!! It is a wonder that anything ever gets built!!